A dinosaur-shaped structure of unimaginable size is rising from the Sun's surface.

The solar prominence as seen on Monday morning happens to resemble one of the longest dinosaurs to ever walk Earth's surface. (Photo courtesy of Sylvain Weiller)

On the morning of Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, French skywatcher Sylvain Weiller peered into his telescope only to find a giant sauropod looking back.

The gentle dinosaur was rising slowly from the southeast face of the Sun, looming ever higher as one of the biggest solar prominences in recent history. Weiller decided that it looked most like a Diplodocus. In reality, the prominence was composed of superhot plasma that would melt the face off of any reptile that approached within a million miles.

The dinosaur has since gone extinct by evolving into "other animals," according to Weiller, but a couplephotos memorialized its brief return to relevance. Farewell, sweet Diplodocus: